Solving the problem of banditry in Cho Ra (Bac Kan, 1947-1954)

Abstract

After the defeat in Viet Bac in the winter of 1947, the French colonialists were forced to switch to a long-term strategy, including using a total war, implementing the plot of "using Vietnamese people to fight Vietnamese people", and "using war to maintain the war". In addition to military measures, the French tried to occupy land and people in the ethnic minority-dominated regions in the north. Cho Ra district (Bac Kan province) was one of the areas where the French colonialists focused on causing sabotage against the revolutionary government and its resistance bases. This article focuses on presenting in depth the first Viet Minh’s struggle to resolve the bandit problem in Cho Ra (1947-1949) and the second struggle to resolve the bandit problem (1953-1954), thereby drawing some comments from the reality of the fights against banditry in Cho Ra district.